The Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) is a global NGO specialized in search and rescue. MOAS rescued almost 14,000 persons from the Mediterranean Sea between August 2014 and October 2015, using a 40-metre (136-ft) expedition vessel, the Phoenix. MOAS received a "tidal wave of support" in donations following the death of Alan Kurdi. This allowed MOAS to expand its mission to the Aegean Sea and South East Asia.
Contents
- Operation
- Phoenix
- Schiebel camcopters
- 2014 Mission
- 2015 mission
- 2016 mission
- Founding and funding
- References
On January 12, 2016, MOAS assisted a boatload of Syrian refugees who had washed ashore on the island of Agathonisi. The group included a two-year-old boy who became the first known migrant casualty that year. During operations, MOAS assists rescue coordination centres (RCC) to mitigate loss of life at sea by providing food, water, life jackets and emergency medical care to migrant vessels in distress. When migrants are taken on board, under the coordination of the RCCs, MOAS then follows orders when it comes to disembarkation.
Operation
The operation is coordinated from the island of Malta, which lies in the central Mediterranean Sea and is close to the Italian islands of Sicily and Lampedusa. Italy and Malta are at the center of a migratory route connecting North Africa to Europe. Over the past years, both countries have coordinated and been directly involved in hundreds of cases saving thousands of lives at sea. MOAS is a professional operation designed for search and rescue. It is equipped with an 18-strong crew including seafarers, rescuers, paramedics and doctors. The Phoenix has its own clinic, rescue RHIBs and drones to assist in search and rescue.
Phoenix
The MOAS expedition vessel, named Phoenix, is a 40-metre (136-ft) steel boat built in 1973. She has a gross tonnage of 483 tons.
Schiebel camcopters
The Phoenix is equipped with two Camcopter S-100 remote piloted aircraft (RPAs) which monitor the seas from the sky and provide real-time intelligence to MOAS and the rescue coordination center of Malta and Italy. These RPAs have a range of 100 km (practically the distance between Malta and Sicily), a maximum speed of 200 km per hour and a flight time of six hours. Once spotted, the cameras give the crew images large enough to be able to read from a piece of paper in someone's hand.
2014 Mission
The Migration Offshore Aid Station inaugurated its first twenty-day mission on Monday August 25, 2014. It set sail from Malta’s Grand Harbour at around noon after a press conference held at the Birgu Marina. In the evening, as it returned close to Malta to pick up some equipment, the Phoenix came about a very worried Maltese fisherman whose boat was drifting off Delimara (close to Marsaxlokk) after its engine failed. The man managed to attract the attention of the MOAS crew by waving. The three-metre boat was tied up alongside the Phoenix until help was called.
MOAS organised its first migrant rescue on August 30 when it assisted a group of 250 Syrians and Palestinians, including 40 children. On the same day, the Phoenix also assisted some 96 Sub-Saharan migrants from a rubber dinghy who were transferred onto a merchant ship. On September 8, the Phoenix conducted two rescues involving almost 700 migrants, including 83 women and children. A two-day old infant was among the people saved.
A day later, another 500 migrants were rescued from two separate vessels, bringing the tally up to 1,500 migrants saved in less than two weeks at sea. MOAS rescued another 1,500 migrants throughout October, bringing the total number of lives saved to 3,000. MOAS launched its crowdfunding effort in October and by 2015 had already raised some $70,000. In February 2015, MOAS made a specific appeal to the maritime industry and mariners who are required to respond to emergencies. It said that seafarers transiting the Mediterranean would be especially affected by the numbers of refugees crossing from Libya to Italy after projects like the Italian mission Mare Nostrum were no longer in operation.
“Due to the sheer number of migrant boats and the lack of EU assets to intercept them, commercial vessels have become the first line of defence in rescues. Yet, cargo ships and private sailors are unprepared for this kind of overwhelming emergency situation.”
“They do not have medical personnel so they are unfamiliar on how to take care of the people involved. And this is a big part of the process, not only rescuing them but taking care of them after they’ve been rescued which can be critical to their lives, as we’ve learned in Lampedusa.”
2015 mission
MOAS continued to operate in the Central Mediterranean Sea between May and September 2015, during which time it assisted almost 9,000 refugees, bringing its total number of lives saved until the end of 2015 to 12,000.
2016 mission
MOAS began operating in the Aegean Sea in December 2015. On January 2, it announced that it has assisted a boat of 39 migrants, 11 of whom were injured by the violent impact on the sharp island rocks. A three-month old infant boy was severely hypothermic and was stabilized. For this mission, MOAS uses the Topaz Responder, a 51-meter custom-made emergency response vessel, which hosts two high-speed rescue launches. These smaller rescue vessels are named Alan and Galip, in honour of the Kurdi brothers whose deaths shocked the world in September 2015.
The Topaz Responder rescued an estimated 16,000 people between June and September 2016.
Founding and funding
MOAS was set up after the tragedies of 2013 when two boatloads of migrants, one from Eritrea and Somalia and one carrying Syrian refugees, perished en route from North Africa to Europe. Each year, thousands of migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, risk their lives when attempting this perilous crossing on rickety boats. The ultimate aim of MOAS is to eliminate loss of life at sea to the greatest extent possible. MOAS does not act a ferry, but uses all its resources to assist the respective rescue coordination centres in locating and treating suffering human beings, and to save lives where required.
Christopher and Regina Catrambone founded the project in 2013 with the aim of alleviating the needless suffering of thousands of people seeking a safe and stable new home. MOAS has received various awards since it was set up, including Italy's Order of Merit and Malta's Medal for Service for the Republic (Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika). MOAS also received an award for Civic Engagement by the Today Public Policy Institute in November 2015. In 2016, MOAS received The Geuzen Medal.
The MOAS group is made up of humanitarians, security professionals, medical staff and experienced maritime operators. They are passionate about the plight of migrants and the dangers they face as they try to find a life free of violence. The project director is Brig Gen (Ret’d) Martin Xuereb, Malta’s ex Chief of Defence
Doctors Without Borders partnered with MOAS from May to September 2015 onboard the MY Phoenix where they cared for 6,985 people rescued at sea after rescue by MOAS. The 6 person team included logistics, publicity and medical teams who cared for migrants on board the Phoenix needing treatment for conditions ranging from dehydration to gunshot wounds.